Student informer tells of warning

JAKARTA (JP): A student who said he was bullied into becoming an informer suggested on Saturday that the Nov. 13 incident at the Semanggi cloverleaf was planned by the military.

Wiwid Pratiwo, 21, told the National Commission on Human Rights that he was warned several hours in advance that security personnel would open fire on the afternoon of Nov. 13 near the Atma Jaya University campus, and that he was told to leave the scene of the impending clash.

Wiwid revealed that he was recruited by "force" as an informer by a military police soldier from the presidential guard unit who he knew by the initials "BL".

A student at Trisakti University's air transportation management school, Wiwid said that he was in the front line of the student protest when he received a message via a pager provided by "BL", a second class private.

"The message said those still at Atma Jaya should move out because from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. there would be a shooting spree," Wiwid told a packed media conference at the rights commission's office in Central Jakarta.

The most serious clashes, which claimed 15 lives and left more than 400 injured, took place on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 amid student protests against the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly. Nine students were killed near the Semanggi cloverleaf in front of the Atma Jaya campus on Nov. 13 and some victims of the two days of clashes are still in hospital.

The Armed Forces has said an investigation has started into the shootings, during which -- human rights groups have said -- live bullets were fired. The military and the police have repeatedly stressed that they only carried blanks and rubber bullets.

Forensic experts have said fragments of metal bullets have been found in most of the bodies of the Semanggi tragedy.

Rights groups such as Kontras, the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, have also said that the incident could have been provoked by instigators.

Last Monday Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said "radical groups" infiltrated student rallies, using buildings along Jl. Sudirman as their base, and provoked the clashes, particularly the one on the afternoon of Nov. 13.

Threat

Wiwid said he had not attended classes at the university for several months and claimed that he was first approached by BL as a friend on Aug. 30 at a bus stop in Tomang, West Jakarta. BL later presented him with a contract requiring him to help secure the MPR Special Session.

"I was threatened that if I refused to cooperate, my parents and sister would be eliminated ... they told me they knew what grade my sister was in, what my father did for a living and what days my mother went to the Koran reading group," Wiwid said. He said his father was a driver at a construction firm.

Wiwid said he was assigned to recruit civilian guards and monitor universities to gather information on student movements.

Prior to the session, he said that he was once assigned to go to several towns in Java to recruit civilian guards using four army military trucks.

"I went to Pandeglang, Banten in West Java, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Semarang (Central Java)," Wiwid said.

He was caught by Trisakti University students suspicious of his activities on Nov. 15. They turned him over to Kontras the following day.

Wiwid said that he brought about 160 people into the capital, and with a number of people from North Jakarta, they were taken to Cijantung in East Jakarta.

Wiwid, however, did not specify the place.

Wiwid also said that he was promised about Rp 100,000 (US$13.25) for each piece of information and that the money would be transferred into his bank account.

He, however, said that so far he had not received a cent.

Wiwid said he was often taken to BL's dormitory in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, and also "to his office on Jl. Merdeka Selatan, the palace of the vice president." The position of the vice president is currently vacant.

Kontras coordinator Munir said Wiwid was one of many who had been victimized -- partly because they were short of money "as part of the political terror for military operational purposes."

"There are many civilians who were used to serve intelligence operations," Munir said, adding that Wiwid and his family were now seeking protection, and that students were "catching people like Wiwid" almost daily these days.

"They were one of the most fatal victims apart from students. They have to be protected because they are facing threats both from those giving the orders and from the public," he said.

Wiwid said: "I realize that I have betrayed all Indonesian students, and I offer my deepest apologies, especially to those who died."

Rights commission member Asmara Nababan said that the government should set up a permanent agency to implement a witness protection program. (byg)